Five Months
by Hikari-san42
Summary: Sonic laid awake for a bit longer, listening as the rain slammed into the house, sharp and hard. He was warm, comfortable, and safe. He was home. And that was where he intended to stay. /A fic in honor of Sonic's 22nd anniversary./


_Five Months – _a fic dedicated to Sonic the Hedgehog's 22nd birthday.

_Timeline:_ Tails is about nine or ten, so I guess Sonic's sixteen or seventeen.

_Rating: _K

**Warnings:** None, though the writing sucks because it's been too long. That's no excuse, but I figured I should give you a heads up. Also, the beginning is kinda slow, but it picks up after that.

**Notes:** Oh my gosh, Sonic's birthday has been a roller coaster for me. I've tried for about a week to finish the next chapter for my big fic but I'm seriously blocked. So, I decided to type out a short oneshot. Not my best work, not by far, but eh. It's been too long since I've written and finished something. (Also please note that everything in my fics is intended to be _platonic_ and brotherly. Don't read into it. It's not there.)

Disclaimer: All recognizable material belongs to SEGA.

_Enjoy~!_ And happy birthday Sonic~!

* * *

The sharp pitter patter of rain was the only sound as the dark, cloaked figure stumbled its way up to the workshop, fatigue hanging heavy on the hunched frame. The door yielded easily under his exhausted hands and he heaved it inward, wincing slightly when a sharp _crack_ announced his arrival. Shuffling as quickly as his soaked shoes would allow, he scooted into the house and eased the door shut behind him. After the tell-tale _click_ as it caught and then the _thunk_ of the high-tech, thick deadbolt sliding in place, the figure turned back to the dark house, easily stepping over the picture frame he had knocked to the ground.

He tossed his soaked cloak to the floor beside the cluttered table, barely noting the date at the top of an old newspaper as he passed. His eye ridge barely twitched – he'd been gone for a while. With a huge sigh, he rubbed his gloved hands across his eyes, pressing just hard enough with the heel of his hands to make small starbursts of color explode across his vision. Blinking away the sparks, he kicked off the dripping sneakers, ignoring the squelching sounds they made as they landed next to his cloak. Turning back to the doorway, he ignored the urge to yawn.

He easily crossed into the living room, where the television was flickering silently – the human on the screen reporting some important news flash. Behind her, impressive pictures of a huge orange and red explosion, flying shards of shrapnel of every size flying out from the epicenter, flashed in rapid succession, giving a second-by-second account. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and his green orbs focused on the small pool of light provided by the television. It barely reached the couch, blocked by the solid piece of machinery sitting in front of it. Wires cascaded every which way, some splayed to their fibers, while tools of every type were littered around like resting soldiers after a war.

Tracking past the obviously delicate project, his eyes finally moved to the couch and rested on the small form curled into the darkness of the couch on his side, golden arms cradling a round head. Slow breathing signaled deep sleep and twitching tail tips told of a bad dream.

"Tails…" he barely murmured. In sleep, the head on the couch turned toward him as if sensing his presence. His golden face was relaxed despite his flickering eyelids, and the visitor inhaled sharply through his nose in an attempt to hold back a gasp. He had only been gone five months max, but the fox had grown. His face was sharper, eyes a bit larger, ears tipped in black – a sure sign of vulpine puberty. A pang streaked its way through his heart – he hadn't intended to be gone so long, and suddenly he realized how much he had missed. Five months, at least twenty weeks – one hundred forty days.

The fox shifted, revealing a dark bruise on the underside of his head. Green eyes widened and the awake mobian had to resist the urge to lunge forward and shake the kid awake, demanding what had happened. Instead, he pointed at the TV and its external sensor picked up his movement. It switched off with a bright flash of light and the room was plunged into darkness. Suddenly, sound zoomed back and his ears pricked just in time to catch the distant rumble of thunder. Glancing back at the couch, he relaxed a bit when he realized the kit hadn't heard, at least not yet.

With the rain drumming in his ears, he bent over the back of the couch and hooked his hands under the fox's body. Heaving the kit into his arms, he stumbled backwards but managed to catch himself before they hit the ground. The fox was heavier than he remembered.

Tails shifted but didn't wake, and the one holding him up sighed. Trying his hardest not to jostle his sleeping passenger, he quickly scaled the stairs and hooked a sharp right. Kicking open the fox's bedroom door, he glided across the room and stooped to ease the fox onto the bed. In a moment of indecision, he grabbed the blankets and draped them over the small form before backing towards the door.

"S-Sonic…?"

The hedgehog froze. Tails' eyes were wide open, blue irises shining brightly in the low light from the hall. Wincing, Sonic raised a hand in greeting, feeling very much like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

"Hey kiddo."

"_Sonic_," Tails stressed, struggling to sit up. The addressed scratched his head sheepishly, trying and failing to look innocent.

"Yeah, it's me—"

"Sonic!" Suddenly, the hero of Mobius found himself under siege of twenty kilograms of fox kit as the kid launched himself off the edge of the bed in a perfect tackle.

Sonic barely managed to catch the two-tail before they both hit the deck. Still, he couldn't help but laugh as he staggered backwards and Tails wrapped his arms and legs around the hedgehog's form in a poorly executed full-body hug. "Whoa there, bro! You're not as small as you used to be!"

Tails blinked up at him, the personification of innocence, before curling his hand into a fist and socking the older in the blue shoulder. Sonic winced – Tails had been practicing.

"Where've you been?" the kit demanded in a flat, dangerous tone. "You've been gone for six months!"

"Five," the hedgehog corrected as he was punched again, this time on the arm. "Chill out, killer! I need that arm."

"I can build you a new one," Tails remarked blankly as his fist collided with Sonic's arm again, this time a little weaker than before. He paused as Sonic's words finally broke into his mind. "Wait. What day is it?"

"The twenty-third…?" Sonic winced as Tails' fist rose again, but the fox simply let it go seconds later as his brain kicked in.

"The twenty-third?!" the fox squeaked. Suddenly, his arms were back around the hedgehog's neck, nearly choking Sonic. "Happy birthday!"

"Wha… Um, thanks little bro." Carefully extracting the fox from his person, Sonic held Tails out so he could give him a good once over. "You feeling okay, kid? You've got some massive mood swings."

"Huh? Oh yeah. I hit my head in the workshop a few days ago and I've been all over the place since then."

"Tails," Sonic's voice was low in warning, "you need to go to the doctor. You could have a concussion."

The child waved his hands in the hedgehog's face. "No no! I'm fine! Really! I'm just glad you're home."

"Heh, me too bud. But really, you should get your head checked out—"

"Sonic, in case you haven't noticed, it's eleven thirty and raining." After wiggling out of the speedster's hold, he hopped back onto the bed. "I wanna hear all about your adventure!" He patted the bed next to him. "C'mon, we can go to the doctor tomorrow. I felt you limping when you carried me up here."

"Can't get anything past you…" Sonic mumbled too low for the fox to hear. "All right, but first thing in the morning—"

"Yeah yeah." Tails looked eagerly up at his best friend, eyes shining with excitement. "Was that _you_ right outside mobius' orbit?"

"Yeah, Eggman had the brilliant idea to harness energy from the sun and I couldn't get word to you in time so I followed him by myself. He had this _giant_ vacuum 'bot thing that could suck in the hydrogen of the sun and…"

The story was a long one, and Sonic could already see Tails nodding off, despite how hard he was trying to stay awake. Well, he _had_ woken the kit.

The hedgehog couldn't help but grin as he watched the golden head next to him fall forward and its owner lost the battle. Easily, he wrapped his arm around a pair of bony shoulders and leaned forward to hook his other arm under the fox's legs. Standing carefully, he repeated his earlier performance and set the child against his pillows, this time forgoing the blankets.

Tails blinked up at him, fighting back against the exhaustion one last time. "Sonic, what—"

"Ssh Tails. Get some sleep. I'll tell you the story some other time."

"But—"

"Go to sleep."

"All right…"

Sonic smiled at the concession and mussed his friend's springy bangs before moving toward the door.

"Sonic, are you—" Tails cut himself off, seemingly at war with his thoughts. "Are you… gonna leave again?"

The blue one froze before looking back at his best friend. Tails was staring at him with huge stormy eyes, their pure cerulean clouded with tears.

Sonic smiled at his friend. "I'm not going anywhere kiddo."

"Can you, maybe…" he trailed off as thunder boomed again, close to the house.

Sonic saw Tails' eyes widen impossibly further and he quickly darted back across the room. "You know what?" he asked as he climbed onto the bed next to his friend. "Why don't I stay here for the night? I'm a little uneasy about this storm…"

Tails grinned at his friend, easily seeing through his ruse, but didn't argue. The hedgehog held out his arm. "C'mon, let's get some sleep."

The kit curled into Sonic's side and relaxed almost seconds later. The cobalt mobian followed his example seconds later, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds before closing his green eyes.

"Happy birthday…" whispered into the darkness, blanketed with the sleepiness of a child. "Welcome back."

"I never left," came the reply. "Not when you're here."

Tails hummed and dropped off a few minutes later.

Sonic laid awake for a bit longer, listening as the rain slammed into the house, sharp and hard. He was warm, comfortable, and safe.

He was home.

And that was where he intended to stay.

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed. Sorry for bad writing. Feel free to attack me; my own fault. _

_Happy birthday once again to our favorite hedgehog. Here's to many more!_

_Reviews are cherished. _


End file.
